This application is a United States national phase application of, and claims priority to, co-pending international application number PCT/US2010/036647, filed May 28, 2010, which is incorporated herewith in its entirety.
Technical Field
The present invention is directed to systems and methods of managing fuel use on a drilling rig efficiently during all phases of operation. The system includes a power source, e.g., plurality of engine-generator combinations (gensets), and an engine management module operatively associated with the power source. The engine management module tracks the energy or power required for each rigsite activity and facilitates management of the power source according to the power needs. The fuel management system audits fuel usage on the rig.
Background
A drilling rig is generally known as machine or system of machines that are configured to create wells, holes, bores, or shafts in the ground. Drilling rigs may be positioned on land or water, and may be stationary or movable. Regardless of the rig position or type, rigs used for petroleum extraction are often massive structures containing powerful machines, motors, and mechanical equipment that are used to support a drilling operation. Examples of machines and other motor driven equipment generally found on a petroleum extraction drilling rig include mud pumps, hoists, rotary tables, draw works, air compressors, hydraulic pumps, and top drives, along with various other machines, motors, and electrical devices.
Given the massive size of today's petroleum extraction rigs, combined with the significant depth to which many rigs are often configured to drill in order to reach viable petroleum deposits, the machines and mechanical equipment on a rig are inherently large and powerful. The size and power of the machines and mechanical equipment on the rigs necessitates that a substantial amount of electrical power is required to support a drilling operation. Further, a typical drilling operation includes several phases, where some phases may require significant amounts of electrical power and others may require much less electrical power. These varying power requirements are further complicated by the fact that drilling rigs are often positioned in remote locations where access to conventional power grids is either not available or presents significant challenges. As such, drilling rigs often use a bank of generators positioned on or proximate the drilling rig to supply power to the various machines and mechanical devices on the rig.
However, the conventional bank of generators used to supply power to drilling rigs present several challenges. For example, during phases of a drilling operation where minimal electrical power is required, each generator in the bank of generators continues to run, and as such, continues to consume fuel even though the power generated therefrom is not needed during the lower power consumption drilling phase. Similarly, unnecessarily running generators during non-peak power consumption phases of the drilling operation increases emissions and causes unnecessary wear on the engines and generators. Further, although some rig crews may attempt to manually shut down unnecessary generators during non-peak power consumption phases of a drilling operation, manually shutting down generators also presents challenges, as the generators must be restarted prior to a peak power consumption period. The engine powered generators on rigs require some time to warm to optimal operating temperature and are also frequently hard to start in cold temperatures. If the generators are not restarted in time to meet the need for power, then the drill pipe can be stuck in the hole, or worse case the safety of the crew can be compromised.
Accordingly, a need exists for systems and methods that can effectively manage energy and power use without the drawbacks described above.